-LRB- CNN -RRB- Martin Greenfield is one of the world 's most respected and accomplished tailors . Since emigrating from the former Czechoslovakia to America in 1947 , he has dressed everyone from the Rat Pack and Leonardo DiCaprio to Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama .

But Greenfield 's success follows tremendous adversity . As a teenager , he survived two horrific years in concentration camps during the Holocaust , and lost his parents and siblings at the hands of the Nazis . In this excerpt from his memoir Measure of a Man , Greenfield describes how an encounter with an SS guard at Auschwitz led him to pick up a needle and thread for the first time , and how tragedy taught him the power of clothes .

Martin Greenfield : It was our second day inside Auschwitz . The soldiers asked if we knew any trades , like masonry , carpentry , medicine -- that kind of thing . Dad grabbed my wrist and thrust it into the air .

`` He is a mechanic . Very skilled , '' he said .

Above the gates at Auschwitz was a sign . It read Arbeit macht frei -LRB- `` Work makes you free '' -RRB- . By volunteering my skills as a mechanic , my father protected me . It was his way of marking me for the Germans as a Jew whose skills they could exploit , as one not to be burned .

As soon as my father offered up my skills , two Germans walked toward us to take me away . I then did something I should not have done , something stupid : I ran . Why , I do not know . Fences and soldiers were everywhere . Where did I think I was going ? I can not say . But for whatever reason , I ran .

A few paces into my sprint , I heard a barking German shepherd barreling down on me . My arms pumped hard as I stretched my stride and ran faster than I 'd ever run before . The barks got louder . I snapped my head back over my shoulder and saw the dog closing in . He leapt and latched his teeth onto my leg . I looked down . The dog hung from my calf . I shoved his head with both hands . He snarled and gnashed violently as I struggled to pry him loose . The dog 's jaw unlocked , taking a meaty chunk with him . Blood spurted on my prisoner uniform , the dog 's mouth -- everywhere . I tried not to cry . Not in front of my father , not in front of the other men and boys .

The two soldiers tromped over to retrieve the dog and make sure he was uninjured . They then snatched me up off the ground and hauled me away from the group . I thought maybe that night I would join my father again , but that did not happen . That day , my second inside Auschwitz , was the last time I ever saw my father .

The Germans dragged me to the laundry . Whether they wanted me first to perform a simpler task than mechanical work , or whether this was a punishment for trying to flee , I do not know . But after my sprinting stunt , I was eager to show the Germans I was a hard worker who could be of use .

My first job in the camps was washing Nazi uniforms . I knew nothing of the task . Still , I grabbed a brush and an SS soldier 's shirt and scrubbed hard and fast . After working my way about halfway through the pile , it happened . I scrubbed so hard the bristles ripped the collar . The face of the pacing soldier at my station flushed red . I do not remember his words , but I remember his baton . He beat me until I bled . He needed to make an example out of me for the other prisoners . When he was finished with my flogging , he balled up the torn shirt and threw it in my face before huffing off .

The shirt was trash to the soldier but not to me . I kept it . Working in the laundry was a nice man who knew how to sew . He gave me a needle and thread and taught me how to sew a simple stitch .

I mended the shirt . To this day I still do n't know why , but when I got up the courage , I slipped the soldier 's shirt on and wore it under my striped prisoner uniform . It was a crazy thing to do , because none of the other prisoners had a shirt . But I did it anyhow . From that day on , the soldiers treated me a little bit better . They thought I was somebody -- someone who mattered , someone not to be killed .

The prisoners treated me a little bit better as well . You must remember that some of the kapos -LRB- supervisors -RRB- were Jewish prisoners , but they could be brutal . They wanted to please the Germans , so some of them would be hard on us so the Germans would not punish them . Sometimes the kapos were harsher than some of the Germans . When I had my soldier shirt on , however , that did not happen . When I wore the shirt , the kapos did n't mess with me .

The shirt means something , I thought . And so I wore the shirt . In fact , I ripped another one on purpose so I could have two . The day I first wore that shirt was the day I learned clothes possess power . Clothes do n't just `` make the man , '' they can save the man . They did for me .

Of course , receiving your first tailoring lesson inside a Nazi concentration camp was hardly the ideal apprenticeship . I would have much preferred to hone my craft on Savile Row or in the mills of Milan . Looking back , though , that moment in the camps marked the beginning of the rest of my life . Strangely enough , two ripped Nazi shirts helped this Jew build America 's most famous and successful custom-suit company .

God has a wonderful sense of humor .

Martin Greenfield 's memoir `` Measure of a Man '' is available now .

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World-renowned tailor Martin Greenfield has dressed everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to President Barack Obama

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In his memoir Measure of a Man , he details his his years spent as a prisoner at Nazi concentration camps and the loss of his family

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Greenfield now runs Martin Greenfield Clothiers with his sons in Brooklyn